The Ultimate Score in the Rotten Meat Department!

[Winemaker]

This is why we buy our own cow and hog from farmer friend and get butchered. We do buy chicken, seafood, filet, and rib roasts at Sam's or Costco, though.

[Choices]

Mark-down Chicken can be a bit iffy but beef, not so much. I have no problem returning stuff to the grocers if it is not up to par.

[braumeister]

At the very end of the meat counter in my supermarket is where they put the marked down items. Locally, we call it "the green meat bin" and I often buy beef there. Never had a problem. I've noticed that it's always beef, never pork or chicken, which I think is a good practice.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister At the very end of the meat counter in my supermarket is where they put the marked down items. Locally, we call it "the green meat bin" and I often buy beef there. Never had a problem. I've noticed that it's always beef, never pork or chicken, which I think is a good practice.

+1

[TromboneAl]

We've been buying almost-expired meat for twenty years. There was only one time that the meat was bad. We noticed it on the first bite and had no ill-effects. I recall that it looked fine.

[Al in Ohio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Wow! I did not know a grocer would dare sell bad meat. I would think they want to err on the side of caution.

Its not “ bad”. It’s still red. It’s just close to the sell by date. Red meat is never bad yet if kept cold. Now when it turns to brown you need to smell it.

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl We've been buying almost-expired meat for twenty years. There was only one time that the meat was bad. We noticed it on the first bite and had no ill-effects. I recall that it looked fine.

Same here. Can't recall any episodes of food poisoning. I also don't recall ever buying any close to sell by date meat and it being bad. We aim to either cook it very soon (usually within the sell by date or within a day or two). Or freeze it immediately if we have no plans to use it.

If the meat is handled properly then it should be 100% safe up to the sell by date, otherwise all these grocers would be facing massive product liability lawsuits.

We get much of our deeply discounted marked down meat at food lion which had a spoiled meat issue a couple of decades ago, and people STILL won't shop there 20+ years later. I know the butcher, I can see his work area and practices. I see him rotating the stock, marking down near-expiration meat, and I never see expired meat on display. I even saw his assistant buying 20 lb of marked down chicken breasts himself so if you eat your own product then it's probably good enough for me too.

I assume some people shop at fancy stores that don't discount their near-expiration meat because they toss it out instead. So how do you know you aren't buying meat that's been sitting out for several days and just a few hours from getting tossed?

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister At the very end of the meat counter in my supermarket is where they put the marked down items. Locally, we call it "the green meat bin" and I often buy beef there. Never had a problem. I've noticed that it's always beef, never pork or chicken, which I think is a good practice.

I have seen a lot of pork in my grocery.... can not remember chicken...

[Beldar]

No Distress Today Meat?

_B

[Lakewood90712]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beldar No Distress Today Meat? _B

"Today Meat "is also known as " Sale Date" meat. Must be sold today if sold for human consumption. Distress is uh, visible defects so to speak.

When Los Angeles had several packing houses, Sale Date meat was a real bargain You never knew what would be available. But the aroma of the area
( City of Vernon adjoining LA) was not always pleasant.

[Winemaker]

Reminds me of the time when an employee asked me about my sandwich that I was eating. "Ham salad", I answered, and he cringed. It was homemade, I told him and he gave a sigh of relief. He told me and others within earshot, that he formerly worked as a butcher in a grocery store. Whenever an end of processed meat came to the end where the slicer would not slice safely, all the ends would end up in the "meat drawer". Whenever the meat drawer got full, that's when they made ham salad. Sometimes, he said, the meat was green enough, they didn't have to add pickle relish!

[braumeister]

That's for real.
As a teenager I w*rked in the kitchen at a Howard Johnson's and one of our most popular items was ham salad.

At the time, the law in New York was that at least 40% of the meat in ham salad had to be ham. The rest was unspecified, so ...

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winemaker Reminds me of the time when an employee asked me about my sandwich that I was eating. "Ham salad", I answered, and he cringed. It was homemade, I told him and he gave a sigh of relief. He told me and others within earshot, that he formerly worked as a butcher in a grocery store. Whenever an end of processed meat came to the end where the slicer would not slice safely, all the ends would end up in the "meat drawer". Whenever the meat drawer got full, that's when they made ham salad. Sometimes, he said, the meat was green enough, they didn't have to add pickle relish!

I knew a guy who used to go in and ask for the ends!!! He had a few kids (not sure if it was 4 or 5) with a SAHM and was not making a lot....



Said he paid really cheap for it and got some very good meat...

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr._Graybeard That said, I bought a package of Costco hot dogs a while back and wasn't able to finish them before they started getting moldy. I ate one with a couple white spots, but once the spots started turning green I gave up on them and dropped them in the dumpster.

Huh? That’s what the freezer is for LOL!

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud I knew a guy who used to go in and ask for the ends!!! He had a few kids (not sure if it was 4 or 5) with a SAHM and was not making a lot.... Said he paid really cheap for it and got some very good meat...

There is a nice meat market near my Dad’s, and I’ve heard customers some in and order the “ugly steaks”.

The label in OP clearly says $0.01 a pound, and it’s 0.6 pounds. Looks like good meat to me.

[CaptTom]

One supermarket chain in our area packages up the ends of the cold cuts in the deli, and sells them. I think a lot of people used to ask for a deal on the ends, so they finally decided to make it official.

A lot of formerly unused meat products are sold now. I hear you used to be able to go into a butcher's or supermarket meat department and get some of these "by products" free.

If I'm cooking it the same day, I have no problem with the "today's date" meat specials.

The best marinated steak tips I ever had were a batch I bought already marinated at the butcher's, then forgot about them for over a week in the fridge. Man, were they tender!

[imoldernu]

Have bought "sell by" meat ever since I can remember. Used to be that Walmart did the "purge" on tuesdays, but no longer. We don't go there for shopping very much, since Aldi's supplies us with 95% of out food needs. We do buy in bulk any meat that has a "special". Last week it was chicken thighs, in pkg's marked $5 off. Most of the packages were listed at $6 to $7. Bought and froze 6 packages.

Some info on dating food:
The Difference between “Use-By� “Sell-By� and “Best-By� Dates - IFT.org

After Thanksgiving and Easter, sell offs of Ham. I like frozen ham slice chips as a snack. Price for full ham thin sliced sometimes goes down to $.59/lb. Buy and freeze 5 hams that last about 6 months.

Based on this... will start a thread. "When to toss old medicines"...

[Clone]

I would not worry to much about beef. We bought beef by the half from a local locker for many years. We would ask that they let it hang for a few extra days before cutting. At one point, the 'aged beef' was somewhat popular, and I asked the butcher to let it hang longer. It was very tender, but it was also getting a bit more gamey. I stopped aging beef after that. We have an excellent meat counter in town with very good prices. We do not buy more than we will consume in the next couple days.